I’ll never forget the day my outboard alarm started screaming — it was overheating. I shut it down fast and started troubleshooting. In my case, the water pump impeller had worn out.
After replacing the impeller and flushing the cooling passages, the motor ran like new. I also learned to check for clogged intakes and to always watch for a strong telltale stream.
Now I keep an eye on cooling water every trip — overheating can ruin an engine in minutes